The Quinnipiac University national poll released Wednesday is the fifth to show Mr. Perry leading former front-runner Mitt Romney. In the new poll, the Perry-Romney margin was 24% to 18%, among Republican voters. But among all voters, Mr. Perry trails Mr. Obama by only 3 percentage points while Mr. Romney is tied with the president.

“Gov. Rick Perry has sprinted out of the gate as a candidate for the GOP nomination,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Being the new kid on the block has benefitted Perry. But with prominence comes scrutiny and both his Republican competitors and the Democrats are doing their best to convince voters he’s not Mr. Wonderful.”

What’s clear as the 2012 contest gets under way is that voters aren’t viewing Mr. Obama as Mr. Wonderful. Only 42% of all registered voters say the president deserves a second term, the same as a March Quinnipiac survey.

Where Messrs. Perry and Romney led among GOP voters, the rest of the Republican field was lagging: former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who hasn’t said whether she will run, gets 11%; Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, 10%; Texas Rep. Ron Paul, 9%; pizza magnate Herman Cain, 5%, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, 3%, and 1% each for former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, former Sen. Rick Santorum and Michigan Rep. Thaddeus McCotter.

If Ms. Palin doesn’t run, Messrs. Perry and Romney along with Mrs. Bachmann each pick up two percentage points, the survey showed.

Quinnipiac’s poll of 2,730 registered voters has a margin of error of 1.9 percentage points; on the Republican primary, it interviewed 1,185 voters, giving results an error margin of 2.9 percentage points.

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